What Is Islamophobia?

Racism, Social Movements and the State

Paper $28.00ISBN: 9780745399577
Published
July 2017
For Sale in All Americas and the Caribbean except Canada

Cloth $95.00ISBN: 9780745399584
Published
August 2017
For Sale in All Americas and the Caribbean except Canada

As anti-Muslim undercurrents in the United States and other western societies become increasingly entrenched, the phenomenon of Islamophobia—and the need to understand what perpetuates it—has never been greater. Critiquing mainstream, conservative, and notionally left arguments, What Is Islamophobia? offers an original and necessary alternative to the existing literature by analyzing what the editors call the “five pillars of Islamophobia:” the institutions and machinery of the state, the counter-jihad movement, the neoconservative movement, the transnational Zionist movement, and assorted liberal groups, including the pro-war left and the new atheist movement.

Together, the contributors demonstrate that this emergent racism is not simply a product of ideology, but is driven by a combination of social, political, and cultural factors. What Is Islamophobia? concludes with reflections on existing strategies for tackling this growing issue and considers different approaches to countering anti-Muslim prejudice.

"This volume is a critical contribution to a better understanding of Islamophobia. Through different studies in numerous countries the reader gets an in-depth picture of this new phenomenon which has to do with state policies, structural racism and ideological instrumentalisation of fear. A must read if we want to find the right strategy to counter racism against Muslims around the world."

Karen Armstrong, historian of religion

"This important, thoughtful and disturbing book could not be more timely. Islamophobia, the new racism, has become increasingly entrenched and respectable, even in certain liberal circles. The authors compel us to examine our institutions, face unwelcome facts, and revise some of our culturally entrenched positions and assumptions. Only thus can we pull back from an unthinkable moral, spiritual and political disaster."

Joel Koval, author of The Lost Traveller's Dream

"The best study I have ever seen of this scourge that now plagues the world. The range and precision of analysis concludes on a note of hopeful solidarity that builds on a critique of the left, certain sections of which have 'adopted de facto racist positions'."

For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu